[[quoteright:200:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pictureuhf.jpg]][[caption-width-right:200:[[EarWorm We got it all on]] ''[[EarWorm UHF!]]'']]->'''Bob:''' I don't know about this, George. We don't know the first thing about what goes on in a television station.\\'''George:''' Don't worry, Bob. It's just like working in a fish market! [[{{Metaphorgotten}} Except you don't have to clean and gut fish all day]].

''UHF'' is a 1989 movie starring Music/WeirdAlYankovic, written by Al and his manager Jay Levey (who directed). Al plays George Newman, a young man with an [[MrImagination all-too-fertile imagination]] adrift in life. After getting fired from yet another job due to excessive daydreaming, he is [[{{Nepotism}} appointed by his uncle Harvey]] as manager of Channel 62, a local UHF television station that Harvey won in a {{poker}} game.

George and his friend Bob soon discover that U62 is a near-abandoned station with a staff of four, almost no reception to speak of, and nothing but stale reruns for programming. With optimistic enthusiasm, George tries to revitalize the station's schedule, but quickly realizes that the channel will soon go bankrupt; the local airwaves are dominated by Channel 8, a network affiliate VHF station whose owners are {{card carrying villain}}s [[VillainWithGoodPublicity with good publicity]].

Things change when a depressed George carelessly puts station janitor Stanley Spadowski ([[Series/{{Seinfeld}} Michael Richards]]) in charge of the channel's early-morning kids' show; to everyone's surprise, Stanley's CloudCuckoolander antics become an instant hit [[PeripheryDemographic across all demographics]]. Emboldened, George unleashes the full force of his creativity with a line of unique, oddball shows to fill out the rest of the schedule, with Stanley as their flagship superstar. These moves quickly catapult U62's ratings to #1 in town -- which prompts Channel 8 head honcho R.J. Fletcher (played by sci-fi B-movie legend Kevin [=McCarthy=]) to take them down by any means necessary...

Like Weird Al's music, the film focuses its comedy on oddball humor and [[SatireParodyPastiche satire, parody, and pastiche]] of pop culture. Released in 1989, at the height of Weird Al's popularity, the film was expected to be a summer blockbuster, but barely broke even at the box office (opening against the 1989 ''Film/{{Batman}}'' movie, amongst other heavy hitter movies) and instead became a CultClassic.

----!!''TV the way it was meant to be seen. In a trope listing.'':

* AbortedArc: Raul's subplot got aborted due to Trinidad Silva's death during filming.* AbusiveParents: When R.J. Fletcher is introduced castigating an employee ruthlessly for not giving him the right type of pencil, it turns out that the employee is also his ''son''!* ActionizedSequel: Parodied with the commercial for ''Gandhi 2'', an actionized sequel to ''Film/{{Gandhi}}'' of all things. In this version, [[UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi Gandhi]] is a jet-setting vigilante who beats up hoodlums, drives a Ferrari, eats steak and... you know... isn't dead.* AffectionateParody: The film is a parody of cheaply run UHF stations from the 70s and 80s. It also features a number of parodies of well-known shows and movies.* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: George does this InUniverse, when under depression from Terri leaving him. He describes the [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner Road Runner cartoons]] as the Coyote being sad and pathetic, and the road runner being cruel and mocking the coyote for his pain.** Then there's Mohandas Gandhi...the butt-kicking, gun-shooting, steak-chomping, lady-shagging, crime-fighting, vigilante action flick hero!* ATeamFiring: Taken to a ludicrous extreme in the ''Rambo'' sequence.* AllOrNothing: In the end of the ''Wheel of Fish'' segment, The prize box reveals that is was empty.-->'''Kuni:''' Inside the box is, (The box reveals it's empty) NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! STUPID, YOU'RE SO STUPID!-->'''Audience:''' STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!* AllThereInTheManual: Bob and Teri's last names (Steckler and Campbell), and the names of two of Fletcher's thugs (Frankie, the head thug, and Eddie, the killer thug). (Teri previously had the last name Moore, and Pamela had the last name of Taylor.) All of this was provided by Al in the DVD commentary.** The quiet & corpulent camera guy was named [[NamesTheSame "Burt Reynolds"]] (according to an early script, it was "Bert", with an "E"), and in earlier scripts, there was a guy, Roger Dickson ('The Bowl-O-Rama [[TheCasanova Casanova]]') who kept hitting on Teri when George wasn't around; Morris Beckman, Uncle Harvey's accountant; and Noodles [=MacIntosh=] had a [[{{Dominatrix}} dominatrix]] named Rock Sands for a girlfriend.* AlmightyJanitor: Broken into two roles. Stanley lives for being a humble janitor even after becoming famous as a show host (and God help you if you try to take his mop from him). Philo's the somewhat spacey engineer of this run-down station who proves to be a damn sneaky bastard when needed, [[strike: possibly]] a MadScientist, and definitely [[spoiler:an alien]].* AmbiguousDisorder: Multiple professional reviews of the film refer to Stanley as "mentally retarded," but the character is never stated to be mentally disabled, nor would Yankovic likely ever mock the mentally disabled.* AmbiguouslyJewish: George Newman, his Uncle Harvey, and Pamela Finkelstein (given that Pamela is played by Fran Drescher, it's not ''that'' ambiguous).* AndStarring: "and Victoria Jackson as Teri". Apparently, Al and Victoria were dating at the time, which couldn't have hurt.* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The human version... during the "Town Talk" promo, a bunch of weird guests are on the panel. They are, in order, A [[ThoseWackyNazis Neo-Nazi]], [[{{Dominatrix}} A Dominatrix]], [[TheKlan A]] [[UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan Klansman]]... A little girl with blond pigtails... and an {{ax|crazy}}e-[[AnAxeToGrind wielding]] [[{{Expy}} expy]] of [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]]. Then subverted because the little girl is implied as an EnfantTerrible with a perpetual SlasherSmile.* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: Played for a pun in the last act: [[spoiler: A bunch of Asians jump out of a supply closet to surprise someone: "'''SUPPLIES!'''"]]** Though the joke would be lost on people not aware of jokes involving Asian accents, since as Al points out in the commentary, the setup for the joke got cut for time.** Even without the Asian accent the pun works regardless, whether it's a bunch of Anglo-Americans jumping out or a bunch of Latinos. The "supplies/surprise" word swap is plenty obvious as a joke on its own, without involving racial humor.* AsideGlance: Right at the end of the film, George and Teri seemingly spontaneously act out GoneWithTheWind. Then when Teri says "Because tomorrow is another day!", George glances at the camera and says to the audience "I knew she was gonna say that".* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: George is this in spades, especially in the film's early scenes.* AxeCrazy: The "Killer Thug" is implied to be this.* BerserkButton: Just try to take Stanley's mop away. We ''dare'' you.* BaitAndSwitch: "And take that ''ridiculous'' thing off!" Not the silly hat, but the fake mustache you can't even tell is fake.* BigBad: R.J. Fletcher serves as the primary one, while Big Louie serves as the GreaterScopeVillain.* BigEater: The U-62 camera man is hinted to be this. He's a very large man (played by one of the guys in Weird Al's ''Fat'' video) who's seen eating a big sub sandwich while operating the camera during the "Joe Early" scene & guzzles an entire pot of coffee by himself (straight from the carafe, mind you) during the telethon. In fact, there is not a single shot of him where he's not holding some type of food or drink.* BigShutUp: -->'''George''' (dejectedly): Hey kids, where ya wanna go? (beat) That's right, to Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse. [[SarcasmMode And boy, oh boy, are we gonna have big fun today. We're gonna have so much fun,]] we'll forget about how miserable we are, and how much life sucks, and how we're all gonna grow old and die someday.-->'''"Little Weasel" Kid''': I wanna go home.-->'''George''' (shouts angrily): Shut up, you little weasel!** From "Town Talk":-->'''Satan''': Look, all I was trying to do was---->'''George''': Oh shut up, you pinhead! You make me sick!** With R.J. and Richard Fletcher:-->'''R.J. Fletcher''': You idiot! Can't you do anything I tell you to do? Does this look like a number 2 pencil?-->'''Richard Fletcher''': No, but I just thought---->'''R.J.''': You thought? I don't pay you to think!-->'''Richard''': But, dad---->'''R.J.''': Shut up!** R.J. Fletcher's [[{{Mooks}} henchmen]] have kidnapped Stanley and locked him in a storage closet, and one of the thugs' patience is wearing thin after Stanley's blindfold has fallen off:-->'''Killer Thug''' (to head thug): Will you shut him up?-->'''Stanley''': I got an itch!-->'''Head Thug''': Stanley, I don't want to have to tell you this again: Shut up, you're making us nuts! ** After George has just broken into the Channel 8 studio offices to rescue Stanley:-->'''George''': Listen, I can see you guys are pretty busy, how about if I come back later?-->'''Killer Thug''': Forget it pal, we're all going for a little ride.-->'''George''': Well, we'll have to take your car, mine's a two-seater.-->'''Head Thug''': [[LamePunReaction Just shut up, kid.]] You know, you really botch things up. If you hadn't stuck your face in our business, we'd all be going home real soon.* BigWinSirens: Used in "Stanley Spadowski's Funhouse" when the kid finds a marble in a sandbox full of oatmeal. His prize? Getting blasted in the face with a fire hose.* BlandNameProduct: Neither station mentioned in the film are given proper call letters. Channel 8 is just "the network affiliate (for ''which'' network is never mentioned. As detailed below, Tulsa's actual channel 8 is an ABC station) downtown", and U62 is simply "a UHF station".* BloodlessCarnage: Spoofed in George's ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' fantasy sequence, where he sweeps an automatic rifle along a line of {{Mooks}} on a hillside. A moment later, they bloodlessly collapse simultaneously. Also during the ConanTheBarbarian spoof; Conan splits a patron bloodlessly in half.* BurgerFool: George and Bob start off the film working at Big Edna's Burger World, but they can't even hold down that job.* ButNowIMustGo: Philo heads back to [[spoiler:his home planet]] once the station is saved.* CaliforniaDoubling: Inverted - Dialogue implies that the film takes place somewhere in California, but it was actually filmed in Oklahoma.* TheCameo:** Creator/DrDemento appears for a split second during a montage of Channel 62's shows, getting whipped cream sprayed into his mouth by Stanley (this was actually a portion of a larger scene that was cut, but was put in to provide Dr. D a cameo).** The Kipper Kids, a performance art duo, appear during the telethon doing a strange song-and-dance routine to the tune of 'The Umbrella Man' (though this scene was cut so heavily that in the actual film it seems like they are just making repetitive noises instead of singing a full song).** Emo Philips is the accident-prone high school shop teacher George interviews.* ChairmanOfTheBrawl: Happens quite a lot in the revamped ''Town Talk''.* ChekhovsGun: The single coin Fletcher gives to the homeless guy [[spoiler:winds up being his undoing, being rare and valuable enough to pay for the last couple hundred shares of stock in Channel 62]].* {{Chiaroscuro}}: Provided by a darkened office & a TV's glow during the scene where R.J. Fletcher & his Thugs plot to kidnap Stanley.* CloserToEarth: George's girlfriend, Teri.* CloudCuckoolander: Basically all of the sympathetic characters, but particularly Stanley and Philo [[spoiler:who is an alien]].* TheComicallySerious: The "Head Thug" played by David Proval. He's this sort-off "Intense Italian Mobster" sort of guy (subverted a bit in the cut scenes when it comes to bugs, he turns into a screaming ninny). The "Killer Thug" might qualify as well. If he wasn't in a family-friendly comedy film, he would likely be NightmareFuel. Instead, he's just an over-eager guy with a creepy face.* CompanionCube: Stanley's mop.* ComputerGeneratedImages: The entire ''Beverly Hillbillies'' dream sequence[[note]]Which features a parody of Money For Nothing by Music/DireStraits. Moreover, it's the song's official music video as well.[[/note]]* ConsolationBackfire: The protagonist George discovers at one point that he is broke, can't pay the rent, and has just run his uncle's business into the ground, with no hope of being employed by anyone in the city (as he's already been fired from every business and his uncle will certainly not offer him another job after he's ruined his TV station). He recalls his girlfriend, saying, "Well, at least I have Teri..." Cue phone call from Teri calling to tell him that he is an insensitive creep for failing to show up at the birthday dinner he promised, and that she never wants to see him again.* ContrivedClumsiness: One of the {{jerkass}}es (in this case, his own son, Richard) from R. J. Fletcher's station trips the midget camera man, Noodles Macintosh for U62, and sarcastically chimes "Oopsie!" Later, Noodles enacts his revenge by doing the same thing to Richard, except this time, the trip ends in a mud puddle.* {{Corpsing}}: The kid who spits on George's nose is clearly trying as hard as he can not to laugh afterwards, even covering his mouth with his hand.** Victoria Jackson when listening to George's message on the answering is trying not to laugh...though this was intentional as a part of Teri's character trying not to be amused by George's antics because she doesn't want to love him anymore.** Jackson legitimately corpses earlier, though, when George is banging his head on her counter yelling about how he lost his job again and how doesn't know what's wrong with him.* CorruptCorporateExecutive: R.J. Fletcher and his goons.* CrazyHomelessPeople: The coin-collecting bum who ends up saving the station. In an often-missed gag, his first appearance has him hitting up George for change; not as a handout, but because he wants to break a dollar.* CreatorsApathy: Parodied InUniverse with ''Film/{{Gandhi}} II'', in which the original classic is given a cheesy action sequel that directly opposes everything about the original film and Gandhi's way of life. Instead of a Hindu, ascetic, passive resistance icon, he's a steak-chomping, high-rolling, gun-toting, shit-talking street vigilante with martial arts skills. (Indiaxplotation?)* CuteButCacophonic: Pamela Finklestein (she's played by Fran Drescher, after all).* DelayedReaction: ''"Hey, wait a minute! You guys aren't from the pizza place!"'' [[spoiler:...After Stanley's already been handcuffed, blindfolded, and kidnapped.]]* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu?: In an ad for ''Town Talk'', George interrupts a seemingly pleasant Satan by throwing a cup of water in his face shouting "You make me SICK!!"* {{Dissimile}}:-->'''Bob:''' I dunno about this, George.. We don't know the first thing about what goes on in a television station.-->'''George''' Don't worry, Bob! It's just like working in a fish market, except you don't have to clean or gut fish all day.* TheDitz: Stanley Spadowski.* DrowningMySorrows: George's blueberry daiquiri (and Bob's beer).* DVDCommentary: One of the best ever. Largely consists of ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'' style riffing (and cameos from Creator/EmoPhillips, Michael Richards and Victoria Jackson (via phone for the latter). Al demostrates his very impressive memory by rattling off the exact dates and locations of several scenes.* EarnYourHappyEnding: George and company have to fight off loan sharks, mobsters and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity high competition]] for the sake of their little UHF station.-->'''George''': ''"WE DID IT! [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome THE STATION'S OURS!!]]"''* EasterEgg: The DVD release of the movie is double-sided, with a widescreen version of the movie and some DVDBonusContent on one side and a PanAndScan version and different bonus content on the other. However, the menu for both sides lists all of the bonus content. Select something that isn't on the side you're on, and Weird Al will walk on screen and explain you need to flip the disk over to watch that. Keep selecting the same option, and Weird Al will get increasingly irate, culminating in yelling, ''"It's on the other side!"''* EchoingAcoustics: Utilized when Philo introduces himself in "Secrets of the Universe".* EnemyToAllLivingThings: Raul. Sadly, [[AuthorExistenceFailure had Trinidad Silva not died during filming]], we would've seen [[spoiler:the poodles get their revenge.]]* EngineeredPublicConfession:-->'''R.J. Fletcher:''' This community means about as much to me as a [[RefugeInAudacity festering bowl of dog snot]]! You think I care about the pea-brained yokels of this town?! If you took their combined IQ, and multiplied it by 100, you might have enough intelligence to tie your shoe, if you didn't drool all over yourself first! I can't stand those sniveling maggots! They make me want to puke! But, there is one good thing about broadcasting to a town full of mindless sheep: ''I always know I've got them exactly where I want them!'' ''[[EvilLaugh (maniacal laugh)]]''"* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Right before R.J. Fletcher's introduction, Pamela is worried when the station is mistakenly delivered a package meant for Channel 8, intending on taking the package there later and warning George when he offers to, knowing R.J.'s reputation. Cut to R.J. yelling at an employee... Over not using a number two pencil, and then we learn that the employee he was yelling at is his own son.* EvilIsHammy: R.J. Fletcher is not a subtle antagonist.* EvilLaugh: R.J. Fletcher has a grand old time with these. His son takes a few cracks at it too, and has quite possibly the most ''pathetic'' evil laugh you will ''ever hear''.* EvilOldFolks: R.J. Fletcher, who else?* ExcitedKidsShowHost: Stanley Spadowski proves to act like this all the time. Putting him in front of the camera was just lucky. Subverted beforehand in that George tried to fill this role and failed miserably.* ExcusePlot: It's a vehicle to get Music/WeirdAlYankovic's style of parody into the realm of movies and television. In case you couldn't tell.* TheFaceless: Big Louie.* {{Fingore}}: The clumsy shop teacher, Joe Earley, with a table saw, during George's interview with him.--> "Just call me mis-ter but-ter fin-gers!"* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five-Temperament Ensemble]]: Harvey (choleric), Teri (melancholic), George (phlegmatic), Stanley (sanguine), and Bob (leukine).* TheFool: George Newman.* FreePrizeAtTheBottom: Stanley Spadowski, while hosting his show, goes through the process of digging a cheap plastic toy out from the bottom of a box of cereal.--> '''Stanley:''' Don't let your mom know that you do this.* FreezeFrameBonus: One scene has a brief shot of the U-62 Fall Schedule, which includes shows like ''The Flying Pope'', ''Wonderful World of Phlegm'', and ''[[CrossesTheLineTwice Bestiality]] [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Today]]''. ** When Richard Fletcher and the thug are at City Hall, the truck behind them is actually the satellite truck from the real-life channel 8 in Tulsa, KTUL, an ABC station; ironically, the channel 8 logo used in the film mirrors the one used by another ABC station in Dallas, WFAA since 1996.** If you look at the "Transmitter Status" screen in Philo's lab, one of the lines of text reads "Q36 Explosive Space Modulator"; that's the component that Marvin the Martian often needed, but lacked in the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes cartoons when he tried to destroy the earth. You can see it best when Stanley is barricading the doors in Fletcher's office and Philo's engrossed in an experiment.* FunPersonified: Stanley.* GainaxEnding: While the movie is zany enough, did anyone really expect Philo to be revealed [[spoiler: to be an alien]]?* TheGamblingAddict: Uncle Harvey, who regularly plays the horses and poker - the latter got him the station, and the former nearly resulted in him selling it to R.J. Fletcher.* GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity: The janitor Stanley Spadowski got fired from Channel 8 by R.J. Fletcher who accused him of throwing away some very important files. They were later discovered right where Fletcher had left them, but Stanley wasn't rehired.* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: For the most part, it's a very family-friendly film, with one or two mild swear words like "hell" thrown in here and there. Then, in the scene where George is organizing his new programming schedule for the fall season, you can see a program called ''Bestiality Today''. ([[FridgeBrilliance Although it does seem to be scheduled appropriately far past]] [[{{Watershed}} Safe Harbor]], [[FridgeBrilliance for what it's worth]])** The film was intended to be a PG, but the more graphically violent scenes (such as Emo Phillips cutting his thumb off and the "Conan The Librarian" sequence) bumped it up to a PG-13.* GilliganCut: ** (on the DVDCommentary, Al [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] these gags by declaring "'''CUT TO!...'''") ** From Uncle Harvey saying "no way" about George becoming the manager of a TV station, to George and Teri on their way to the station for the first time.** Before that, George asks where Uncle Harvey is. His aunt responds he's at a very important last-minute business meeting. Cut to Uncle Harvey with some guys playing poker.** A package meant for Channel 8 (Fletcher's station & lair of doom) arrives at Channel 62 (George's UHF station) by accident. George offers to deliver it personally to Fletcher. Pamela warns "...he's not the nicest guy in the world." After George scoffs and says "You just have to know how to talk to those guys..." '''CUT TO''' Fletcher berating his son about a pencil (see AbusiveParents example above).* GoodNewsBadNews:--> '''Bob''': Well... I've got some good news and some bad news.--> '''George''': Okay... gimme the bad news first.--> '''Bob''': Well, given our present financial situation, compounded by on-going fixed expenses and outstanding invoices, I figure this station will be flat broke by the end of the week.--> '''George''': What's the good news?--> '''Bob''': ILied. There is no good news.* GoshDarnItToHeck: Because of Al's refusal to use vulgar words, the script is prone to liberal uses of "slime" and "scum" in place of heavier words, the heaviest insults being "weasel" and "pinhead."** RJ Fletcher's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to [[spoiler: the town]] is notoriously this. "Festering bowl of dog snot"?* GroinAttack: R.J. Fletcher gets kicked right in the crotch from another senior citizen at the end (see HumiliationConga below).** During the ''Ghandi II'' sequence Ghandi himself knees a bad guy right in the crotch.* GreaterScopeVillain: Big Louie the loan shark/potential crime boss, who drives the plot by forcing Uncle Harvey to repay a horse-gambling debt. One has to wonder if he was even aware of U-62 outside of him pulling up through the crowd and his limited interaction with George- he never even met Fletcher.* GunNut: Earl Ramsey, a guy Pamela is interviewing when George interrupts with a "Bulletin" to invite Teri to dinner at a French restaurant for her birthday.-->'''Earl Ramsey:''' "Gun Control is for wimps & Commies. Let's get one thing straight. Guns don't kill people....AHHH DO! *make bizarre gurning face while aiming gun at camera*"** The fact that his actor could make that face was literally the only reason he was hired for the film.* HighPressureBlood: When the shop teacher slices his thumb off, he squirts blood all over himself and copiously stains George's shirt when showing him his injury.* HoistByHisOwnPetard: RJ Fletcher is undone [[spoiler:because he gave a single penny to the beggar. It happened to be worth thousands and the bum was able to save U-62 by buying up the last of its stock]].* HistoricalBadassUpgrade: Gandhi II. He can punch through torsos, and carries a machine gun into restaurants.* HumiliationConga: R.J. Fletcher. [[spoiler:First his true beliefs about the community are revealed, making him the most hated man in the city; then he loses his contract because a random homeless person purchased enough stock to save U-62; gets his license revoked; gets called a "worthless slobbering pig" by Pamela, who overheard the revoke; gets [[GroinAttack kicked in the nuts]] by an old lady; learns the one coin he gave the already mentioned homeless person was what caused his downfall; and the homeless man was able to get the same watch Fletcher wanted]]. Weird Al states in the commentary that he put this in because he doesn't like it when a movie has a KarmaHoudini.* IAteWhat: George accidentally feeds dog biscuits to Bob during filming of a ProductPlacement segment during the kids' show. As Bob is in character as "Bobbo the Clown", he has to fake a smile even as he's grossed out by the taste of the "cookies" he's eating.-->"Uh oh, Bobbo's been eating Yappy's Dog Treats! That's right! Your dog will love that real liver and tuna taste...-->*[[VomitDiscretionShot Cue sound of Bob being violently ill]]*-->...With just a hint of cheese!"* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Parodied in the {{Rambo}} scene. A mook with a machine gun can't even hit George from about two feet away.* ImprobableWeaponUser: Stanley fights off the thugs at channel 8 using his mop and a staple gun. And during the revamped ''Town Talk'', one audience member can be seen in the back hoisting a boulder.* ImYourWorstNightmare: George says this during his Rambo-parodying fantasy ("during" to him, but shown back in the real world).* IndyEscape: Parodied in a dream sequence with a dauntless boulder. Averted since he doesn't escape, but rather is killed.* INeedAFreakingDrink: Invoked by George, but Bob calls him on it, saying he doesn't drink; George says he's been meaning to start.* IronicEcho: Noodles trips R.J.'s son during the HumiliationConga: "Awwwwwwww, did I do that? Oopsy!" Because that's what happened to Noodles earlier.* {{Irony}}: R.J. Fletcher shouts at his son for not giving him a Rolex for Father's Day. [[spoiler:The homeless man, he gave a penny to, buys a Rolex for himself from selling that valuable penny]].* JapaneseRanguage: "Supplies!"** Inverted immediately afterwards: "Hajime!"[[note]]"Begin / Start!" On the other hand, one wouldn't normally use that particular word in that particular situation.[[/note]]* {{Jingle}}: "Spatula City, we sell spatulas... and that's all!"* KarmaHoudini: Raul Hernandez. It would have been a case of LaserGuidedKarma instead, had his actor Trinidad Silva not been slain by a drunk hit-and-run driver before all of his scenes were filmed. * KickTheDog: Fletcher gives a homeless man a penny, sarcastically saying "Don't spend it all in one place". [[spoiler:This comes back to bite him, because the homeless man also had coin collecting skills, and the penny was a very valuable one]].* KitschyLocalCommercial: There are a few of these, including the Spatula City ad ("we sell spatulas, and that's all!") and the ad for Crazy Eddie's Used Car Emporium.* LargeHam: Kevin [=McCarthy=]'s performance is really hammy. Michael Richards also plays it up in a few scenes.* LaughWithMe: When R.J. Fletcher starts laughing, the two managers under him realize, after a short pause, that they'd better start forcing themselves to nervously laugh along with him.* LetsGetDangerous: Stanley really wanted his mop.* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: The town. It's a normal city with normal people watching their normal Channel 8... but when you see the odd content being aired on Channel 62 and realize all these people and things must have been out there already before they got TV shows, it makes you wonder what anyone found weird or odd about George at the beginning of the movie.** Better yet, this is a world where getting blasted in the face with a fire hose is so awesomely fun that children will show up at a kid show just to be able to win the chance to experience it.** And, despite being oft censor-happy U.S. television (in regards to nudity & explicit sex), shows like ''Strip Solitaire'' & ''Bestiality Today'' can be aired on a non-cable network with no controversy or FCC fines.** Also, a weird MadScientist guy [[spoiler:even if he's a space alien]] can make seriously radioactive material with stuff found around the house (a cut scene reveals that it involves Jello, an eggbeater & a microwave) and TEACH THIS to folks at home on his science show!** A weird guy in a grungy apartment can manage to have a show (which appears mysteriously) where he basically commits various acts of animal cruelty, manages to make it darkly hilarious and gets absolutely no public outrage or Animal Control visits.** A large, fat, very mean woman can toss two grown men 100 or so yards easily, karate students can crash though windows and fall 2 stories with no injury, and a very weird shop teacher treats a severed thumb and serious blood loss like a very mild annoyance.** Satan is a real flesh & blood person and appears on a trashy talk show. Maybe.** See the YMMV page for the Fridge Brillance conclusion to this.* LoanShark: Uncle Harvey owes $75,000 to an unseen shark, "Big Louie" who has a detachable hand he can replace with a cleaver.* MadScientist: Philo the station engineer [[spoiler:and secretly a shape-shifting alien]].* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: The shop teacher on "Town Talk" who reacts with sheepish embarrassment when he chops his thumb off with a table saw.* ManChild: Stanley, so very much.* MediaWatchdog: The FCC appeared at the end of the movie, revoking channel 8's license - ostensibly for being late on renewing it, but primarily because of R.J.'s EngineeredPublicConfession.* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: It rates a 6, although it would be higher on the scale if the violence wasn't so cartoonish and played for laughs. [[spoiler:Joe Earley's (Emo Philips) thumb is cut off by a table saw, with plenty of blood squirting out, Conan the Librarian (Roger Callard) cuts a guy (Jeff Maynard) in two from head to groin, some people explode in the Rambo daydream scene, and George Newman ("Weird Al" Yankovic) gets completely flattened by a boulder during his Indiana Jones fantasy]].* MostCommonCardGame: The bad guys guarding Stanley Spadowski spend their time playing jacks and making string figures. Al mentions in the commentary that there was also a scene of them playing Candyland which was cut (you can still see the board on the table).* MrImagination: George; he tends to get fired a lot because of his constant daydreaming. He finally manages to put this trait to good use at U-62, with his various ideas for wacky, home-grown programming. Stanley is one to a lesser extent.* MythologyGag: Look very closely at the model railroad town in ''Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse'': the model movie theater is playing "Slime Creatures from Outer Space" (a song on Al's album ''Dare to Be Stupid''). Also, next door is a Belvedere Hotel, possibly but not-too-likely a reference to a teenage Al's "Belvedere Cruising".* {{Nepotism}}: Implied with R. J. Fletcher's son, who occupies an executive position under his father despite his general incompetence, though R. J. still treats his son as nastily as the rest of his employees. Played straight with Harvey Bilchik. He installs his nephew as station manager despite his total lack of experience. George does prove himself capable later, and the station was on the verge of bankruptcy anyway.* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The villain accidentially saves the station and is HoistByHisOwnPetard.* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: As a parody of Geraldo Rivera's trashy talk show, George announces his next topic: "Lesbian Nazi hookers, abducted by [=UFO=]s and forced into weight-loss programs!"* NonIronicClown: Bobbo the Clown in George's "Uncle Nutsy" segment. He doesn't end up enjoying his role much.* OhCrap: The cameraman's expression when the shop teacher slices off his thumb on the tablesaw.* OutOfFocus: Bob during the latter half of the film, with Stanley largely taking over.* TheOneThingIDontHateAboutYou: R. J. Fletcher's EngineeredPublicConfession ends with "But, there is one good thing about broadcasting to a town full of mindless sheep: I always know I've got them exactly where I want them!"* ParodyCommercial: Contains a number of commercials for various U62 shows and original films, including "Gandhi II", "Conan the Librarian", and "Wheel of Fish", as well as a few businesses, such as "Spatula City" and "Crazy Eddie's Used Car Emporium". The audio for some of these commercials was included on Weird Al's ''UHF'' album.* PeripheryDemographic: In-universe, this is what turns around U62's fortunes.* PointAndLaughShow: "Town Talk With George" is an in-universe example.* PoliticianGuestStar: Parodied. In-Universe, UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev is depicted as an upcoming contestant on the U62 show ''Celebrity Mud Wrestling''.* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "A U! H! F! Station!"* RaidersOfTheLostParody: The opening scene. Weird Al in adventurer attire grabs the Oscar, sets off a booby trap, and runs away from a boulder that follows his every turn, past several famous world landmarks.* RareMoney: The penny that Fletcher gives to the beggar turns out to be a rare 1955 doubled die penny, which is worth thousands of dollars even in well-worn condition.* ReactionShot: Being a goofy comedy, the film is filled with them, most notably from the heavyset cameraman who tends to react in horror to the things he's filming (and not without reason).* RealTrailerFakeMovie: ''Gandhi II'' and ''Conan the Librarian.''* RealityEnsues: George bursts in like a badass to save Stanley from his kidnappers and winds up getting himself captured in ''seconds''. Why? Well, the "bursting in like a badass" part was [[DidntThinkThisThrough as far as he thought it through]].* RedRightHand: Although he's technically a GreaterScopeVillain, Big Louie is a spooky unseen loanshark/crime boss (similar to Dr. Claw from InspectorGadget) with a detachable meat-cleaver hand. Also, EvilSoundsDeep applies to him as well.* ReferenceOverdosed* RightBehindMe: This is how Bob and George (no, not [[Webcomic/BobAndGeorge those ones]]) lose their jobs at Burger World.* RuleThirtyFour: [[http://www.avclub.com/article/weird-al-yankovic-inspires-uhf-porn-parody-has-off-207273 Believe it or not.]]* SassySecretary: Pamela Finklestein.* {{Satire}}* ScaryLibrarian: ''Conan: The Librarian''.-->'''Conan:''' Don't you know dah dew-ay dec-ihm-ahl sys-tahm?* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: R.J. Fletcher* {{Sequelitis}}: InUniverse, there is ''Ghandi II'', which spoofs how some sequels get everything wrong about the original film.* SeverelySpecializedStore: Spatula City.-->'''Jingle''': ''Spatula City'', we sell Spatulas... and that's all!* ShoutingShooter: In the ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' parody.* ShoutOut: And it justified all the references by having them all be from the station or from George's imagination.** George's show, "Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse" takes its name from a skit in an issue of ''MAD''.** Stanley's speech about running to a window and shouting "These floors are dirty as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" is a reference to the famous scene in ''{{Network}}''. The whole concept of a station/network rising to instant unscripted prominence could be considered one, too.** Philo is named after Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of the television.** George molds mashed potatoes into Devil's Tower like Richard Dreyfus in "Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind".-->'''George''': This ''means'' something. This is ''important''.** The final scene is a fantasy sequence with George and Teri as Rhett and Scarlett in "GoneWithTheWind".** Stanley waves his mop like a ''StarWars'' light saber, complete with the sound effects.** One of the unseen shows on U62's lineup is "The Volcano Worshippers Hour". The Volcano Worshippers were a made-up group Al created in high school just so he and his other friends on the yearbook committee could get an extra picture of themselves in the yearbook.** The "Money For Nothing" parody is all about ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies''. It contains scenes from the show as well as parodies of the original song's video.** When George is threatened by Fletcher's henchmen while attempting to rescue Stanley: "[[Film/TheShining Redrum! Redruuum!]]"** Philo is first seen testing [[ThisIslandEarth an Interociter]].** [[Creator/EmoPhillips The high school shop teacher]] Joe Earley was named after Al's high school friend who performed with him when Al was just getting started. Similarly, Joel Miller, the boy who found the marble in the oatmeal and was sprayed with the fire hose on ''Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse'', was named after Al's dorm roommate at Cal Poly.** Film/{{Shaft}} is referenced in "Gandhi II":-->'''Announcer''': Next week on U62: He's back, and this time, he's mad! Gandhi II. No more mister passive resistance. He's out to kick some butt. This is one bad mother you don't wanna mess with.** R.J. Fletcher's EngineeredPublicConfession is remarkably similar to one given by Andy Griffith as Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes in Film/AFaceInTheCrowd:*** '''R.J. Fletcher''': This community means about as much to me as a festering ball of dog snot! You think I care about the pea-brained yokels of this town? If you took their combined I.Q., and multiplied it by a hundred, you might have enough intelligence to tie your shoe, if you didn't drool all over yourself first. I can't stand those sniveling maggots! They make me want to puke! But, there is one good thing about broadcasting to a town full of mindless sheep. I always know I have them exactly where I want them. [[EvilLaugh Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!]]*** Compare R.J.'s EngineeredPublicConfession to the one from Film/AFaceInTheCrowd:--> '''Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes''': Those morons out there? Shucks, I could take chicken fertilizer and sell it to them as caviar. I could make them eat dog food and think it was steak. Sure, I got 'em like this... You know what the public's like? A cage of guinea pigs. Good night, you stupid idiots, good night, you miserable slobs. They're a lot of trained seals; I toss them a dead fish and they'll flap their flippers.* ShipTease: Bob and Pamela, from some moments at the end (and some trimmed off parts from that sequence).* SmolderingShoes: The machine gun mook after George blows him up with an exploding arrow in the Rambo sequence.* SmugSnake: RJ Fletcher.* StyrofoamRocks: Parodied. In the opening sequence, a rock bounces right off George Newman's head mid-fantasy and does nothing to him.* SuperPersistentPredator: Parodied, along with OneDimensionalThinking, with the boulder in George's dream sequence in the opening. When Al turns a corner to avoid it, the boulder turns the corner, too.* TakeThat: at Prince - While promoting the film in '89, Al described it as "Like ''Purple Rain'', but it's intentionally funny."* ThatRemindsMeOfASong: "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies."* TheUnseen: The only thing we see of Big Louie is is right hand, which turns out to be a prop hand. He later twists it off and puts a meat cleaver in its place.[[note]]In the commentary, Al mentioned wanting a reveal scene where it turned out Big Louie was really Creator/MervGriffin[[/note]]* TrailersAlwaysSpoil* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Although the station's location is never mentioned, it is clearly filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with several landmarks making appearances. There's an entire [[http://tulsatvmemories.com/uhf.html fan page]] listing these locations. Al lists off the addresses for many of the locations as they appear during his commentary track.* YourFavorite: The "Twinkie Wiener" sandwich, [[WackyCravings a hot dog cut into a Twinkie and topped with spray cheese]], offered by Al to his friend Bob. These remain Al's TrademarkFavoriteFood in RealLife, though as a vegetarian he uses tofu dogs now.----

-->'''Philo:''' Well, it appears that my work on this planet is complete! I must now return to my home... on the planet Zarcon.-->'''George:''' Okay, well... have fun!